Plan the Route Before You Lift Anything

The most common get-in injury isn't the dramatic one — it's a twisted ankle or a trapped finger caused by a cluttered walkway and a rushed lift. Before the van is unloaded, walk the route from the tail lift to the stage and back again. Know your door widths, thresholds, ramps, steps and tight corners. A 2.4m by 1.2m flat that sails through the load-in doors may jam solid in the corridor past the box office. Measure it, don't guess it.

Then have a two-minute chat with everyone involved. Which pieces come in first, so you're not shifting the same rostrum three times? Where does each stack live? Who is calling the lifts? Agree the words you'll use — "ready, steady, lift" and "down on three" — and stick to them all day.

• Clear the route completely and tape off anything you can't move
• Check every fire door you prop, and make sure someone is responsible for releasing them
• Cover trailing cables with cable ramps or matting, not a token strip of tape
• Have trolleys, skates, sack barrows and slings staged at the door before the first piece comes off

Team Lifts: Fewer People, Better Communication

Four people on a heavy flat can be worse than two, if nobody is in charge. A team lift works when there's one caller, matched steps, and hands at sensible heights. The caller doesn't have to be the strongest person in the room — they have to be the clearest.

• Face the load. Feet shoulder-width apart, one foot slightly forward.
• Bend the knees and hips, keep the back straight, and get a firm grip before you take the weight.
• Hold the load close to your body, around waist height where you can. A piece held out at arm's length loads the lower back far more heavily.
• Lift on the count, move on the caller's word, and never twist. Turn by moving your feet, not your waist.
• Keep the load between you and your partner, not off to one side.
• Put down on a count as well. Dropping a flat the last few centimetres is how toes get broken.

Tall pieces — high flats, columns, portal frames — want two carriers and a third person spotting. Walk sideways rather than backwards. If you can't see where you're going, you shouldn't be the one going there.

Gloves, Grip and Protecting Fingers

Bare hands and splintery timber don't mix. A close-fitting pair of rigger gloves with a rubberised palm gives you grip on timber and steel, and saves your knuckles when you're shifting counterweight or scaffold tube. Keep a spare pair in your bag; wet gloves lose their grip fast and get left behind at the pub.

• Check the fit. Loose cuffs and baggy fingers snag on machinery and door furniture; too tight and you'll take them off halfway through the first lift.
• Retire gloves when the palms go shiny or the stitching starts to go. Worn grip is exactly how things slip.
• Take rings off before you start. A ring caught on a bolt or a bolt hole can strip a finger — it happens on get-ins more often than people think.
• Keep nails short, and lift from the frame or the rail rather than wedging fingertips under a flat base.

Some jobs genuinely want bare hands — tying knots, handling small hardware, feeling for a bolt. Do those with the piece already down and stable, never while it's in mid-air.

Keep Walkways Clear and Watch the Edges

A clear route is a safe route, and it needs re-clearing every hour or so. Get-ins generate debris almost by magic: offcuts, empty tape rolls, gaffer, cable ties, discarded coffee cups. Nominate someone to sweep the main run at each natural break.

• Keep the gangway at least a metre wide wherever anyone is carrying something
• Stack incoming pieces flat and out of the traffic lane, not in the doorway
• Never leave a flat leaning against a wall unsecured — it will slide
• Watch floor edges, traps, orchestra pits and step nosings; tape them and light them
• Wear closed-toe footwear with a decent sole, laced up, even if you're only "just nipping in"

If you're carrying something and the route ahead has become an obstacle course, stop and sort it. Setting the load down and clearing a path costs thirty seconds. A fall costs a lot more.

Let the Kit Do the Work

Your back is not a trolley. Use whatever mechanical help you have, and if you don't have it, hire it. Piano dollies, furniture skates, a pallet truck, a two-wheeled sack barrow and a length of decent webbing strap will move more scenery than any five volunteers on their own.

• Lift the piece onto skates rather than dragging it, and strap tall items to the trolley
• Use slings and straps to share the load, and check stitching and wear before each use
• Ramps should be rated for the load and secured at both ends
• Two people on a sack barrow beat one person on a sack barrow, every time
• If a piece is genuinely too heavy or awkward, stop and wait for more hands or better kit

Look After the Crew

Get-ins are long, cold, repetitive days, and tired people take risks they'd never take at ten in the morning. Warm up a little before the heavy stuff — a few gentle stretches and a walk round the block — and rotate roles so the same three people aren't always on the heavy end.

• Water and proper food, not just biscuits from the green room tin
• Regular breaks, with a clear five minutes rather than a vague "we'll stop soon"
• Encourage anyone to say "I need a hand" or "I'm not comfortable with this" without apology
• Keep a stocked first aid kit and a named person who knows where it is

Nobody came to community theatre to end up in A&E. Take the extra minute, use the trolley, speak up on the lift, and you'll still get the set up, the lights focused and the kettle on — just with everyone's backs and fingers intact for the run.